Oh Justice, be not blind
Nor be deceived with twisted scales unholy.

Ulysses tricked the wise and did them wrong.
Son of Tantalus, illegitimate child,
Outwitted gods and men,
Two-eyed, one-eyed.
How much more facile the eyeless to outwit?
Take care thou, in some such moment’s short-sight,
Do not declare No Man guilty.

Yet eyes alone do not insight impart.
Old Argus, hundred-visioned, Panoptes
Was deceived by Hermes’ flute,
So much like Syren’s song.
What treachery may pleasant words conceal?
To what foul men may horse’s womb give birth?

Scripture taught it long ago
That he who grasped the stone did justice break.
Let No Man covet what his brother earns,
Nor red of brother soak the ground again.
Oh, the Furies’ wrath when Justice sleeps
And from appointed work herself would keep.

Oh Justice, be not blind
But see the case with eyes alert, discerning.
And as thou open up thy sight,
Unstop thy ears to victim’s supplication.
Last of all, thy lips now break
To speak the traitor’s guilt and condemnation.

January 28, 2008